


Asagao Academy: Endure and Survive

by onlyeli



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, FGDSJDHF, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Slow Burn, good tag, im so excited, ok its Time, uuuh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-04 05:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10269278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeli/pseuds/onlyeli
Summary: A young smuggler from Higanbana must overcome her past trauma as she guides one very special girl across the country. In the words of Shane Gill, this goes on record as the worst fucking job she's ever taken. ( asagaoluke.tumblr.com's TLOU au ).





	1. INTRODUCTION.

It’s been three years, but the smell of smoke won’t leave Caddy alone.

 

It dogs him at every turn, no matter how he dresses or how much of their minimal water supply he uses. Jimmy tells him that he’s being too paranoid, but Caddy knows better. He knows the aftermath of Day Zero will never really leave him.

 

No one calls it Day Zero but him, capitals and all. For them, he supposes, it was a new beginning -- their rebirth, taken from humdrum lives to an existence solely driven by purpose. They were volunteers for a reason. For Caddy, it had been the end. He had never wanted to lead. Caddy has had to grow used to doing things he has thought better of. After all, there is no room for weakness in the leader of the Fireflies.

 

Maybe, in the beginning, they were something different, something special, something good. That’s why so many flocked to him (them), in search of power and redemption. Freedom was offered on golden platters, the streets lined with optimism that had otherwise been cruelly stolen the day the infection had arrived.

 

Caddy had lost his sister back then. It hurts to think about, and so he doesn’t. Everyone he’s lost hurts to think about. Especially Ian.

 

Though, Ian wasn’t dead. Maybe that’s what hurt so much -- Ian had made the choice to leave, spat acid words at him and left with two good soldiers at his heels. The injustice sits heavy on his shoulders and crushes fresh air out of him when he least expects it, leaving only the bitter taste of ash.

 

It’s fire that Caddy thinks about when he sees the redhead stumble up to his men, gasping for air and soaked to the skin. It’s danger that he sees in her desperation; he’d never expected to see her again. The job he’d given her had surely been (was meant to be) a death sentence.

 

“She’s not breathing,” she says, referring to the pink haired girl slumped in her arms, “and she needs help.”

 

His men stand around, glancing at him warily -- his right hand coughs awkwardly, shifting her gun to her hip. “Wotcher, boss.”

 

“Take the girl,” Caddy finds himself muttering, eyes on Hana Mizuno, cure for mankind. “As for the smuggler -- you know what to do.”

 

The right hand nods grimly, raising the butt of her rifle. Redhead’s eyes widen in shock, and she lifts an arm to protect herself instinctively -- it’s too late to stop the impact to the back of her head, and her world falls dark, chest rising and falling much more peacefully now.

 

“We taking her back to camp?” Jimmy’s voice, chipper as always, arrives by Caddy’s elbow, expression disdainful as he watches three others lift Hana bodily and begin to escort her away. “I told you not to let her get this close. You know what Mai’s like, Cad.”

 

Caddy’s face twists in a grimace, and he gives his right hand a quick nod. Something akin to irritation flashes in her eyes -- she’d clearly been trusted with more information under Ian’s charge. “Right,” she barks, and there’s nothing obedient about it. “I’ll see you back in the QZ, boss.”

 

Once her dancing ponytail has disappeared from view along with the limp body of Mai Sasaki, Caddy sighs, running a hand down his face. “How did this all start, Jim?”

 

The messenger boy’s face lights up, an impish smile on his peaky, young face. Caddy thinks, for the hundredth time, how ridiculous it is to see him with a gun. “I can tell you that, Caddy,” he chirps, always eager to remind him of his shortcomings. “Would you like me to start at the beginning?”


	2. PART I.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after that little in medias-res opening, onto the real #drama

Mai wakes, as she does every morning, with a start.

 

She gasps as if drowning, eyes flying open and hands gripping at thin air, before her shoulders slump and she falls against her mattress, face contorted. The sound of a phantom gunshot rings in her ears, the blood of someone long dead staining her clean hands. When she stands, it’s on shaking legs.

 

Composure is regained quickly, however; it has to be. There’s a knocking at her front door, steady and rhythmic, determined and unyielding. It’s Jared, and he’s late. She confirms this by glaring at the clock ticking away on her wall, before opening her bedroom door, grumbling sleepily. “I’m coming!”

 

The knocking only stops when Mai turns the latch, and Jared elbows his way in before the door is even wholly open, pushing past Mai and making a beeline for her small kitchen, somewhere to the left of the front door. Her apartment is dingy, but more spacious than most in the Higanbana Quarantine Zone, and Mai likes it here; not to mention, it’s a matter of status. She got where she is because she’s one half of the best smuggling team around, and she wants people to know it.

 

“How was your morning?” Jared breaks their silence a little moodily, opening a cupboard and fishing out her whiskey. When he turns to her, she can see he’s got a split lip, and the beginnings of a pretty nasty black eye. It doesn’t stop him from smiling smugly at her, much to her chagrin. “Want one?”

 

“No, I don’t want one.” Mai sighs, beckoning him over with one hand while sliding a drawer open with the other. Most of her possessions were rare, if not illegal, but rags to clean wounds were plentiful now that most people saw no use in fancy clothes. The particular one she grabs to wipe her partner’s face used to be a part of some sport jersey she owned -- a prideful shout out to the school she attended before infection day. When she spits on it to wipe at the dried blood on Jared’s cheek, she feels no regret. 

 

“Well, I have some interesting news for you --”

 

“Where were you, Jared?”

 

He flinches away from her rough touch, downing another mouthful of whiskey and grimacing at the sharp taste. “West End District. Hey,” he protests, stopping her disdainful protest before it had even happened, “we had a drop to make.”

 

“That’s right,” Mai says, a little too bitterly, standing on her toes and grabbing his chin in her calloused hands, turning him towards her. “We had a drop to make.”

 

When his eyes meet hers, they’re harbouring a strange mixture of irritation and pity. “You wanted to be left alone, remember?”

 

Mai huffs, electing to finish cleaning his wounded cheek before moving onto his lip. “Let me guess, the whole thing went south, and the client got away with our pills, is that about right?”

 

That makes him laugh, and he pushes her away just slightly, reaching into his back pocket. “Deal went off without a hitch. Got enough raton cards to last us a few months, easy.” when he drops them onto her table for Mai to see, the ugly red pattern on the back makes them look like knocked-out teeth.

 

“You wanna explain this?” She gestures to his face, then, accusatory and defensive all at once. Most of the blood he’s spotted with is his. The rest is not.

 

He takes the rag from her, wiping his own mouth much more clumsily than she had been doing. “I was on my way back here and I got jumped by these two assholes, alright? And, yeah, they got a few good hits in, but, look -- I managed.”

 

Mai’s shoulders slump, and she takes the whisky from Jared’s other hand, pressing it lightly against the blooming bruise on his jaw. “Are these assholes still with us?”

 

A small, relieved sigh leaves his mouth as the cold bottle does what it can to slow the swelling of his face. His eyes flutter shut. “That’s funny.”

 

“Did you at least find out who they were?”

 

Gently, he reaches to take her wrist, her anger waning away as quickly as it had come. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Jack fucking sent them.”

 

“Our Jack.”

 

“He knows we’re after him -- he thinks he’s gonna get us first?”

 

“That son of a bitch,” Mai hisses, leaning away from Jared for just a moment, “he’s smart.”

 

“No.” Jared catches her attention again, smiling a little devilishly --  it’s this Jared that Mai has become used to, come to enjoy working with. “He’s not smart enough. I know where he’s hiding.”

 

“Like hell you do,” Mai protests as Jared throws the rag into the bone-dry sink behind her. He pushes himself off of the table he’d been leaning on and shrugs, swinging one foot in front of the other casually.

 

“Old warehouse in Area Five. Can’t say for how long, though.”

 

Mai smiles, and it’s a wolfish smile, a lioness’ smile -- she can smell victory, and it’s close. “Well, I’m ready now.”

 

Jared nods, sweeping his arm out for her to take the lead.

 

“Oh, I can do now.”


	3. PART II.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some more worldbuilding but we're gonna beat jack's shit eventually... also more drama and a special cameo

The Higanbana QZ is sprawling, taking over almost the whole city. Soldiers are stationed at every building, and the only official exit is blockaded by several large military vehicles. The drivers seem to stare right through you, the ghosts of battles they’ve seen interwoven through the gaunt and routine-led bodies of the living. A place like this, Mai often thinks to herself, can drain the survival right out of you.

 

She and Jared walk side by side, shoulders set confidently. Each passerby knows their names, and averts their eyes sheepishly. Conversation halts when they pass by. Jared gets into a hushed exchange with a slack-jawed soldier, and Mai stands by, hands loose by her side. To her left, the buzz of strangers talking attracts her attention.

 

“--- left them all torn up in their house. I dunno, what else are you meant to do when they come knocking?”

 

“That Jimmy kid never seemed scary to me.”

 

“Dude, you don’t ---” his voice dies in his throat as soon as he sees Mai hovering, and his face contorts; her first thought is that he looks like an angry bulldog. “Hey, bitch, what do you think you’re doing?” Despite his height advantage, Mai’s shoulders relax, her face lax as he squares up to her.

 

“Whoah! Sorry, Mai.” His friend -- the smarter of the two, clearly -- catches bulldog-man’s arm, pulling him backwards and shooting him a warning look. “No trouble, yeah?”

 

“Hey,” Mai smiles, shrugging as Jared’s lanky arm waves to catch her attention, “no harm, no foul.” Turning on her heel, she tries to listen to their resumed, hissed argument;

 

“What the fuck, man? Do you even know who that was?”

 

“Whatever.”

 

She’s out of earshot when she reaches Jared’s side, and he smiles, one arm coming behind her to shepherd her towards the gates. The soldiers are examining their ids in that way they have, fish-eyed and vacant, and after a few seconds of Mai holding her breath, they’re given the okay.

 

“Just visiting a friend,” Mai says, a lie that doesn’t need to be told. These men are just that -- men, pulled off of the streets and shoved into uniforms to bully other civilians and swing their weight around. The look of disdain she’s met with makes her skin crawl, but she blinks sweetly as to keep up her act.

 

After all, Mai reminds herself, no one wants to be a soldier. If you do, they put you on the front lines, and you die.

 

Jared smiles, taking back their false cards, before an inconspicuous van just beyond the gates rocks the whole zone with an explosion that sends Mai’s head spinning. Jared’s hand lands squarely on her back, an anchor to security as the two turn and sprint away from the growing clouds of black smoke. Behind them, the sound of gunfire rings rampant, a low and monotone voice calling his men to his side.

 

The soldier’s eyes really are glassy, now.

 

Coughing harshly, Jared ducks, shaking debris out of his hair and smearing dirt on his face as he tries to clear the ash from his eyes. “Fucking Fireflies. They’re everywhere.”

 

Mai spits heartily, pushing wisps of ginger hair back underneath the bandana she’s using as a headband. A long, thin and shallow cut decorates one of her pale arms, blood running slowly down the side of her hand and leaking into the lines on her skin. Jared lends her a bandage, which she wraps around the injury as they walk. “You think they’re looking for Jack?”

 

“What would the Fireflies want with Jack?” a concerning question -- Jared’s right to look a little nervous as he asks it. They duck into a slightly ajar doorway, the smell of dust a little overwhelming as the city light vanishes with the closed door. Mai is only a little startled, not that it shows, to hear a voice somewhere ahead of them.

 

“You look like shit, Jared.”

 

“Thanks, Alex. Any soldiers this way, or are we good?”

 

“You’re good. I just used the passage a few minutes ago,” they smile, pushing dark hair from darker eyes. “If there were any soldiers down there, they’re gone now.”

 

This conversation makes Mai think -- she doesn’t know Alex very well, but she knows of Alex. People were reduced to names and thin legends in zones like this one; the way she’s treated is an indication to that fact, if anything. Jared nods gratefully, telling Alex to wish an ‘Iris’ well, before jerking his head to Mai and starting off down the long, dank corridor once more.

 

“Last time I saw them, Alex said that Caddy was looking for Jack.” his voice is low, disdainful, and the way he looks at her almost makes her laugh. Jared was too pretty to look angry, most of the time -- an angled face, one long, thin scar over his cheek, with a nose that was slightly large but suited his face just fine, blue eyes and poster-boy hair, he was anything but the picture of the revolution. Whenever his deep-set anger crawled across his face, it reminded Mai of a storm on a summer’s day -- awfully misplaced.

 

Wincing as she pulls on the wrap for her arm, she sighs. “Whatever that means, it can’t be good.” 

 

His agreement is shrouded by the creaking of the door at the end of the corridor. Once they come fully into the room, Mai squinting against the sunlight, they see the full extent of the damage the recent Firefly infiltration has done.

 

For a start, it isn’t Caddy’s group. It’s Ian’s, rallying at the gates with him at the head and guns in their arms. Ian is saying something that Mai can’t hear to a man on his right hand side, someone slightly stockier but still wiry -- when they turn to face the window she’s staring out of, she realises it’s Jeff, jaw squared in determination. The two of them dissapear from her sights before a taller man -- Luke -- waves his hand to the others, faceless new recruits that she does not remember, and they all pour into the soldier’s base, their ~~gunshots~~ making the whole block tremble.

 

“Geez,” Mai breathes, pushing off of the windowsill heavily. “Looks bad down there, but it’s Ian’s militia, not Caddy’s.”

 

“Doesn’t mean Caddy isn’t around,” Jared mutters through a grunt, pushing his shoulder against a large bookcase, seemingly inconspicuous against one wall. “Seems like they keep trying to outdo each other. Help me with this?”

 

Carefully stepping over some of the soft, rotten floorboards, Mai adds her weight to the shelves and helps Jared move it, inch by inch, away from a hole in the wall. The damp smell is familiar to her and so she does not wince -- as always, she is reminded of the first time they had discovered this easy way in and out of the city, the relief it had been for the both of them. Their profession was dangerous enough without adding the worry that they’d die strung up like animals on the city walls.

 

They drop down the short gap, first Mai, then Jared, a small flurry of dust following them as they do so. The generator in the corner hums softly as Mai flicks the stiff light switch -- she counts how long it takes to bathe them in sickly, artificial light. One, two, three, four… 

  
Once they can see, Jared makes a beeline for their workspace -- two guns and six bullets, three each, lay side-by-side on an old wooden table. Mai takes them and leans up to grab a flashlight, gritting her teeth; it’s not ideal, but it’s business. She’s got a feeling that out of the three of them -- she, Jack and Jared -- at least one of them isn’t getting out of this altercation alive.


	4. PART III.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A SLOW CHAPTER REALLY but it's needed and i didn't wanna make it too long so here you go

Jack knows they’re coming for him.

 

It’s why he sent his guys after Jared -- he needed time to pack and leave. Unfortunately, he’d underestimated the smuggler’s strength. He hadn’t got away nearly far enough to be safe, and he doesn’t have what they’re looking for. Their guns are long gone, and so is any hope of him getting them back. 

 

Nervously, he claws at his hair, hurrying around his office, looking for nothing in particular. He catches a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror -- a sorry sight, metaphorical tail between his legs, a deep cut seeping from the bridge of his nose. Pressing harshly into one of his facial bruises, Jack pulls his gun out for the third time that hour, checking the chamber with bated breath. As always, it’s fully loaded. 

 

He shouldn’t have double crossed them. He knows that now. Any alliance with Caddy’s brand of Fireflies (especially the shoddy one he had managed to negotiate) was not worth the stress he was feeling now that Jared and Mai were on his ass. 

 

Somewhere in the courtyard, a gun is fired.

 

Panic seizes him and he vaults his desk, sending cups and ration cards flying in his wake. His men die wailing as he sprints to the doorway of the warehouse -- he feels next to no remorse for this. There must be sacrifices if the leader were to live. 

 

The door behind him crashes open, and Jared’s voice reaches him. “Here!”

 

Turning sharply, Jack skids around a corner and through a window, feet landing on the asphalt outside. The sun hits his skin around the same time the smell of blood steals his air. Blinded momentarily, he keeps running, only to crash noisily into a chain link fence. Cursing and coughing, Jack turns to continue his escape only to find Mai blocking his way and Jared climbing smoothly through the window he’d come out of. 

 

Fuck.

 

Mai’s smile is sickly and her eyes are dull, no way looking forward to the ordeal before them. As soon as Jared appears by her side, she sweeps out an arm, moving to allow him to work. Jared gives only a nod, pulling a short, thick pipe from his open backpack and catching it in his free hand absently.

 

“Jack. Good to see you.” Naturally charismatic, Jared’s words sound genuine, and Jack can’t help but smile and shrug. He moves skittishly, edging along the alley’s wall to try and slip past the two smugglers. 

 

“You too. No hard feelings, right?” Jack sounds nervous. He never thought he’d have to see Jared’s face again -- the fury he thought he’d extinguished turns his stomach inside out, his fear causing physical pains in his back and head.

 

“None at all,” Jared smiles, nodding reassuringly as Jack tries to break into a run. Swiftly, with so much grace it almost seems beautiful, Jared knocks Jack’s legs out from under him with the pipe he’d been carrying, sending the other man to the floor in seconds. The cry of pain Jack lets out is dog-like, high pitched and wavering in the still, tension-filled air.

 

“We missed you,” comes Mai’s sweet-voiced chirp, crooning and sultry, the evidence of a smug smile clear in the way she talks. Jared hisses a laugh, circling Jack like a vulture. 

 

He’s starting to really panic now, sweat beading on his forehead as Mai takes a step closer. One hand clutching his knee, the other pressed flush against the floor to push himself up, Jack begins to plead. “Look, whatever you heard, it ain’t true, okay? I just wanna say -”

 

“The guns.” Jared’s tone has become icy, and Jack’s blood runs so cold he shivers. “We want our guns, Jack. You wanna tell us where they are?”

 

It takes all he has not to groan, tears from worry and pain making his nose sting. “Yeah, sure, but -- it’s complicated.”

 

Mai hums in faux-understanding, looking at Jared meaningfully over Jack’s body. Jared nods; it seems they’ve already given him up as a lost cause. The redheaded girl makes her advance, kicking his arm out from under him and sending him crashing to the floor once again. Then, ever-so-gently, she kneels on his elbow.

 

“You were saying?” Jared asks, once Jack’s groans of pain have subsided. 

 

“I… I sold ‘em.”

 

Jared’s jaw drops open. It seems that he is not, after all, unshakeable. He coughs a choked laugh. “Excuse me?”

 

“I didn’t have much of a choice, I owed someone --”

 

“You owed us,” Mai barks, increasing the pressure of her knee, pulling his wrist back just slightly. Jack winces. “I say you bet on the wrong horse.”

 

“I just need more time -- I -- gimmie a week.” He isn’t above begging for his life (he never has been), but he knows it’s a waste of time when he sees Jared’s pitiless eyes. 

 

Crouching beside him, Jared frowns slightly, one eyebrow lower than the other. His head lilts slowly, thoughtfully. “You know, I might’ve done that if you hadn’t tried to fucking kill me. Who has our guns?” Shouting, now, Jared doesn’t break eye contact, and that’s almost more uncomfortable than the weight of Mai on his joint. 

 

“I…” There’s ways to get by in this world. Selling out the Fireflies -- Caddy’s Fireflies -- isn’t one of them. “I can’t.”

 

Jared snorts, then nods at Mai, who grits her teeth. With one slick movement and a sickening, echoing crunch, Jack’s arm is easily broken. He screams, letting the sound bounce off of the walls for a good few seconds before rolling over, clutching his newfound injury to his chest. Spots dance in his wavering, teary vision, his nose beginning to run. Mai pulls a face before walking slowly around to his other arm.

 

“Who has our guns?” Jared asks again, slower, malice blossoming from his tone and taking root in Jack’s throat just like fear does. With a whimper, he makes his decision. If he survived this, he’d deal with the consequences later.

 

Trying not to look at his limp arm, or at Mai, waiting on his other side, he looks up at Jared imploringly. “The Fireflies. I owed the Fireflies.”

 

For the second time, Jared looks at Mai as if for help. Her jaw sets angrily, but she says nothing. She had known Jack was an idiot, impulsive at best and downright moronic at worst, but this -- this was beyond anything she’d ever expected. “What?” he asks, finally, pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

“Look,” and there’s growing confidence in his tone, as if he can still save this, “they’re basically all dead. We can just go in there, finish them off -- we can get the guns, what d’y say?”

 

Like clockwork, both Jared and Mai rise, looking at each other critically above Jack. Mai is squinting in the sunlight, her lips pressed together in a display of her disappointment -- Jared is much the same. Jack begins to panic again. “C’mon, guys! Fuck those Fireflies!”

 

Mai walks around him slowly once more, coming to rest by Jared’s side, closer than necessary. With a sigh, Jared hands her the pipe in his right hand and allows her to put it in his pack. Diverting his attention back to Jack, he shrugs. “That is a stupid idea.”

 

Two shots that echo louder than any noises of pain Jack may have made. Then, silence. 

 

“Well,” Mai huffs, turning to Jared to divert her attention from their once-ally, now dead, “now what?”

 

Already, Jared has started to walk away from her, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Well, we… We go get our merchandise back.”

 

“How?” Mai counters, sharp and a little angry. Her hopes have been severely dashed by the discovery that the Fireflies -- who she doesn’t have the best history with -- have their weapons. Every day was enough of a risk already without trigger happy idealists armed to the teeth.

 

“I don’t know, we… Explain it to them.” he knows that his suggestion may seem absurd, but Jared’s powers of persuasion were matched by very few, if anyone at all. Mai knows this, and gives in, however reluctantly. “Look, let’s just… Go find a Firefly.”

 

Both smugglers turn in unison, surprise etched onto their faces as a new voice joins their conversation. There, in the mouth of the alley, clutching a still-bleeding stomach wound, grimacing in pain, is Caddy, Firefly insignia blazing in pure white from his shoulder.

  
“Well,” Mai laughs, shaking her head in genuine wonder. “There you go. King Firefly.”


End file.
